The day had finally warmed up, so the some friends and I decided that we should take a day trip to visit another friend living in Digby.  We’ve always loved Digby, it’s such a wonderful town especially during the summer.  Lucky for me, I had on a ray ban original wayfarer  else the 1 hr drive would have been scotching on my eyes.

The first thing the kids did when we arrived in Digby was to take a picture of themselves and the scenery around time – look how sunny it was – even the kids had to squint their eyes here.  But the breeze was lovely, so it wasn’t that hot for us to walk around downtown Digby.

We loved how picturesque Digby is – everywhere you turn to around Digby gives you the sea, boats and the sun – on a good day.  So if you are thinking of going to Digby, go when the weather is good and bring along your sunglasses as well as sunscreen.

What a lovely day !  always loved to see boats of any  kind.  What about you?

And now some home made Cuban food from our lovely host – Tania from Cuba and Dave from Scotland.  Yummy looking salad, so beautifully dressed up – we don’t wanna mess it up.

Cuban beef – thinly sliced and very tender – flavorful.

Cuban rice with black beans.

And beet root, corn and broccoli salad made by Jackie from Peru.

And a lovely group picture before we left Digby with our host family.

I haven’t cooked Emperor Chicken for the longest time – and not because I didn’t have the necessary condiments for it but because cooking the emperor chicken takes a lot of time in cleaning the chicken properly and I wanted to have free range chicken.  And the only way to get it is from the Farmer’s market on the weekend and sometimes I don’t get up early enough to buy them.

Anyhow washed i did with the chicken – and gave it a good massage – and of course, with the Emperor chicken – you have to have mushrooms and anything else you want to put in them.

I rubbed the herbs well on the chicken – let it sit for an hour.

Threw in some wolfberries and some red dates and now it’s all ready to be steamed.

And my trusty steamer that we had bought – a great investment.

After 2 hrs of steaming – nice, tender and flavorful emperor chicken.

Need I say more?  this came into our store from our dear friend Cory – one of the nicest people I’ve known in town.  Gotta love friends like that right.  But this went to my sister from another mother – who enjoys lobsters a lot.

Huge bugger.

Lots of meat and just caught.

Lunch don’t need to be an elaborate affair for me, in fact I loved simple lunches like the one above from the new century restaurant on Main Street Yarmouth.  Lots of veggies, some rice and Mongolian beef with broccoli.  The beef was really tender – even my grandmother can eat it. For all this food – I paid only $8 – value for money right?

The majority of our friends goes to Cuba or the Bahamas and some to Jamaica during the March break but we chose to go later, to avoid the crowd and also to have the beach almost to ourselves.  But we didn’t want to go where everyone has already been to, so we are choosing the turks and caicos resort , which came highly recommended by a family friend and my family doctor.

The Turks and Caicos Island is very near to Cuba – I was told and flight would be almost the same as if we were going to the Bahamas or to Cuba. I read that scenery was incredible and the sand were white, soft and clean – with turquoise water to dip into whenever you feel like it.  There are many towels, loungers and umbrellas and unlike the more popular spots like Cuba, you don’t have to wake up really early to put your towels on them so that you have a place to sun tan or just relax. They even have wifi around the pool area – so those of you who must have internet access, you won’t feel lost here.

There are many resorts you can choose from and as far as I can see, all the properties are pretty nice.  There is a special offer on some great hotels/resorts at this very moment and although it is not an all inclusive for all hotels, there are some offering the all inclusive if you check.  It’s a gorgeous place, and  great for a family vacation for folks  like us – with a huge water park and many beautiful attractions.  I can’t wait to try out their different cuisine.

So I had lunch with my girlfriends every Friday as usual – even though I haven’t been posting a lot lately of our food rendezvous - but no worries we have been eating as usual. And this time, Hyujin, Jackie and Kim came a long for our food tasting at Marco’s.

Pretty ladies – posting for me.

Marco’s had fish and chips for the lunch special and we wanted to try it since they were always good on the children’s menu.  I had mine with baked potatoes and they came with some vegies – awesome.  The fish was good but it could most definitely use more fish.

Hyunjin had the same but with fries and some shrimp at $3.99 extra for 5 shrimps – not bad at all.

Jackie was very hungry – lunch took a long time to come – as you can see – she was eyeing the food already heheh!

Kim had the montreal burger – and it was so yummy!  i had her bacon on the side.

Dessert was beignet pomme – fried apple donut with ice cream.

Coconut cream pie for Kim

Jackie was surprised at the size of her dessert.

Crazy eyes on the dessert – hahahha!

And crepe for me and hyunjin – but i would have preferred with real strawberries.  Overall lunch was pretty good.

Yes! honey garlic ribs for lunch from the New Century restaurant.  I know you rarely see me eat something that sweet – but I can’t resist it !  so I order the today’s lunch for that day – with loads of vegies as you can see – and rice (my favorite) of course.  So how was lunch ??  FUL – FILLING !

Firstly, I have to say that no one beats the service at Jungle Jim’s – in Yarmouth, NS  - these girls are the best !  we especially loved one waitress -she is tall and skinny but most of them are tall and skinny but most admirable is the boss of Jungle Jim’s here – he is so nice and approachable.  My g/f had her favorite thai chicken bites.

The spouse had chicken fingers.

We had chimi cheesecakes for dessert

And another g/f Jackie had tacos

I had the all day breakfast – super yummy!

Layla had grilled cheese – which looked quite ordinary eh.

And chloe had the monkey fingers – too.

The girls shared a dessert – of brownies.

And their drawing .  Loved that the girls get along so well.

Easter has always been a family thing for us – but we focus more on the kids than ourselves but this year with my girlfriend around, she bought gifts not only for Chloe but for Aunt Helena and Grampie as well.  She is too sweet – but she found some  patagonia down sweater sale  and knows that the weather here can stay cold for a while longer, so she had to get it for them and of course chocolates for everyone.  Aunt Helena cooked this year since Grammie isn’t around with us this year, it’s at times like that that we missed her most.  No one talked about it but I’m sure they feel the same way as us.  Aunt Helena made a potato and egg salad just like what Grammie used to make for me, I almost cried.

We had lemon meringue and a chocolate cake for dessert with ice cream as well.  Cantaloupe were very good too – sweet.

BBQ Pork ribs were really good as well.

Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for veggies.

Rappie pie and mashed potatoes.

Baked Hawaiian ham.

Veggies

And a game of pictionary to end the evening.  We had a really good time and lots to eat.

So we haven’t been to the Farmer’s market for a long time – all because Saturdays are the days we get to sleep in because the kid is in school and we get up really early every morning.  But it’s Easter Sunday, so have to go see the Easter bunny right?  Chloe was so tickled to see the Easter bunny for she knew who was inside that bunny suit.

Everyone in the market was dressed up for Easter – and I’ll have to say that this hat is so nicely decorated.

Painted gourds – a craft that gave me an idea that Chloe can do this during the summer too because Grampie has lots of these during the summer.

An old cash register at Chef Gary’s who had butter chicken to scoop out for everyone – but a tat too spicy for taste I’ll have to say – but nevertheless very good food.  I had it for supper and lunch the next day.  At $8.50 it was definitely value for money.

An artist at the market – maybe Chloe can go to him for classes.

And our very lovely Natalie with her scones and bakery goods – unfortunately, it was all sold out.  Natalie is the anchor for the Farmer’s Market – without her steering the project – the market may not have been as successful.

From our favorite cookie store – some rice crispies with chocolate – very clever I’ll have to say.

And music in the market of course and many more stores with lots of goodies.  The Farmer’s market remained as vibrant as when it first started.  I’m really happy for them but wished they were nearer to our store – because downtown does need a little bit more people coming around.

While getting some  clarinet reeds at wwbw  I came across a dinner theater deal in the city and after checking out the menu, I booked tickets for them – as a birthday present for myself and a girlfriend who is having a birthday in the same month as I.  The things you can find on the internet these days is really amazing and I’m glad I came across these tickets for the dinner theater.  I loved dinner theater, not only do you enjoy the food, you get to watch a good play and some music played too.  The food are usually good – and the best part of everything is dressing up and painting the town red.  For those who’ve never been to a dinner theater, it’s never too late to start.

As usual our Fridays had us at our new favorite place Boston Pizza – but this time I wanted something different.  But the kids of course had food from the kid’s menu and this Friday we had another kid with us – our neighbor’s kid – Jill.  Chloe had chicken fingers – and this time she didn’t complained that it was spicy – the last few previous times,  she had complained that it was too spicy for her to stomach.

Jill had pizza with fries

A close up of the chicken fingers

My girlfriend had Jambalaya of course – our favorite

And I had the NY steak with salad.  The steak was pretty good – and i did like it but I think I still prefer my pasta.

I haven’t had sushi for a long time now because I really rather not eat any sushi if they were good.  Why waste  my calories on bad food right.  But sometimes, beggars cannot be choosers – so today I decided to get some pre-packed ones from Sobeys but of course, even though it looked so good, the rice was still so-so.

I really couldn’t taste the freshness in the sushi at all because they are really frozen.

But for $9.99 – one cannot expect too much eh.  Ginger not included – I bought them myself.

Meeting up with my investment banker every 6 months is pretty much a routine thing now and I loved our meetings because he is so funny sometimes but so smart.  I sometimes pick his brains on other investment that I have back home in Singapore and he would extend his help and contact my citibank’s private banker.  Mostly during these kind of lunch, we also get to meet other people from the bank and I’m glad i have a  business card printer  at the store to print out all my cards so that I have enough to exchange with others just like myself.  I think we’ve formed quite an exclusive network here – and we pretty much exchange ideas and throw each other our experiences to ponder on.

Usually, we meet up in the city but this time, they’ve decided to come visit me and like any true Asian – I played host to a few people that I’ve been networking with for the last 12 years. Amazing how time flies – anyway, we had brunch on their last day in town and we headed to Jungle Jim’s for breakfast.  Loved the service at Jungle Jim’s and loved their food.

So cheap and really value for money.

I showed them how one of my g/fs had her eggs the other day – and we all did the same that day – just to see how it tasted like. hahah!  yes, we can be funny sometimes too – and it was not all about work during these meetings.

I was invited for a luncheon not too long ago in the city and met several interesting young women entrepreneurs that opened my eyes to many other business opportunities in this country.   Most of these ladies that I’ve met came from all walks of life and one important aspect of these ladies were determination.   These ladies had stories to share and to me it was a learning experience, I also learned about business opportunities like  Web To Print  and franchises and what are the pros and cons on taking up the challenges of these businesses.  Real life stories – albeit not all happy ones but still an eye opener for me.  I brought home some ideas and me and PB are actually discussing about the feasibility of taking up another challenge soon since Chloe is much older now and don’t need as much attention as when she was younger.  Wish me luck now!

Normally, we don’t have supper at the New Century Restaurant or any restaurant unless we have a huge event going on, but a few days ago, my g/f and I decided to just hang out – so we went to pay the New Century restaurant a visit.  Not many people eating out that day – probably because the weather wasn’t that good.  But we ordered the Honululu Seafood plate and a plate of dumplings fried and some rice.

The fried pork knuckles were complimentary from the chef and it was pretty good even though I don’t quite like pork as much.

The Honululu plate comes with plenty of seafood and veggies and it goes great with rice.

And the fried dumpling was just as good.  We had a very good meal – only $20 in total.

There are many places in town where you can bring someone for a business lunch, just like when I had lunch with some powerful  San Diego Employment Attorney  last week.   If you’ve worked for a company in the States, you would know how important it is to know some powerful attorney because you want them to be there to help you out if you have trouble with your employers.

Of course, I didn’t need to use an attorney when my employers were from USA but it was good to know that I can count of these folks to help me out should I have any problems with my contract or pay or even if I was being treated unfairly being an Asian.  But like I said, I was pretty happy with the company that I had worked for many years ago.

My g/fs and I usually have our Fridays lunch date at noon – today we decided to go to Marco’s because we wanted the peanut butter cheese cake that they are famous for.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have it that day – we were kinda disappointed.  But the scallops were great – and fresh – we loved it.   I had baked potatoes with mine.

While my g/f had hers with a salad.

Another friend had the pork schnitzel but we had ordered another piece to share.  Unfortunately, this friend of us – only offered the piece to us – when he couldn’t finish – hahahhaah!!! so weird right?  I guess just different culture or is it a man thingie?

Blueberry cream cheese cake – yummy!   We did have a awesome lunch and thanks to my g/f  – H for the lunch.  And interesting conversation followed with lunch about the different dating culture we have  – from the West and East.  It was interesting indeed, while we learned that dating for most men here in this town means hanging out at the guy’s place, for us Asians dating means going out and eating and going for movies, walk in the park and beaches – meeting up with friends.  Yes, a very interesting conversation.

I love eating at the outlaws – Aunt Helena cooks lots of stuff to choose from and today she had thought that my g/f was visit – therefore, she had a feast brought out.  Unfortunately, my dear friend didn’t come – so I gotta eat extra and brought home some for her.  Appetizer of  oriental mix spring rolls and dumplings  - baked of course from M & M’s.

Garlic bread for starters.

Followed by very yummy lasagne.

Salad.

French bread.

Timbits was our contribution – heheh!

And a chocolate roll made by Aunt Helena.

Yummy!

And apple crumbled – they were yummy yummy!

Sunday lunches are precious to me because I get to go out and eat with the spouse and even though he doesn’t like food as much as I, I still think that it’s a good idea to sit together and have a meal.  Chloe loves eating out although she only eats either fish and chips or nuggets and chips – limited selection for her because she is still so fussy.

But she is happy to eat with daddy once a week because she is after all a daddy’s girl.

PB had his favorite fish chowder – and even then I don’t think it’s much.

Jin Jin had a veggie pasta.

We shared a bruschetta together.

I had a lasagne – but I had wanted a seafood one but don’t like the creamy texture, so I settled for a regular lasagne.

We shared a peanut butter cheesecake together.  Of course I had coffee and Jin Jin had earl grey tea and PB had water – Chloe had apple juice.